


changes

by Masterofkarate



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, but implied more than explicit bc i'm u've been there, but like you don't have to deal w/ the firends part. you watched the past 14 seasons or whatever, some good old rambling. probably slightly ooc but literally who cares? charmac deserves sweetness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:33:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21588439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterofkarate/pseuds/Masterofkarate
Summary: mac & dennis talk out there whole... thing and mac goes to charlie for comfort. charlie notices some things inside of him that... aren't actually much of a change. more like something he forgot about.(charlie realizes he's in love w/ mac and asks him out and they love each other so goddamn much!)
Relationships: Charlie Kelly/Mac McDonald, macden mentioned but not hardcore
Kudos: 56





	changes

Charlie didn’t know what happened. Nothing changed. But maybe everything changed. Mac and Dennis talked. Sort of. They fought. Sort of. A little bit of neither, a little bit of both. Mac did something he hadn’t done in a very long time. He knocked on Charlie’s door in the middle of the night. Frank woke up and did some yelling, so Charlie pushed Mac into the hallway. They walked to the bar.

And that’s when things changed. Maybe it was the talking, or the crying, or the honesty, that changed things. Or maybe they didn’t change things, maybe they just reminded Charlie of things. After drinking more than they should have, they passed out on the pool table together. Mac was on his side, his head on Charlie’s chest. That’s what reminded Charlie. 

He remembered his first kiss, which had been locked away like a secret he kept from himself. The two of them drunk for the first time in his mom’s basement. They never talked about it again, they never did it again. He remembered all of the nights he crawled into Mac’s twin bed after sneaking in through the window. He remembered the way his heart used to beat differently whenever Mac laughed at one of his jokes. 

How did he ever forget all of it? Did he ever really forget it at all?

Whether it changed or he remembered or whatever else, Charlie felt different than he did that night. 

They were on the couch at Mac and Dennis’ apartment. Mac and Dennis had calmed down from the fight, but things weren’t the same there anymore either, Charlie could sense that. There was a girl in Dennis’ room, even though he couldn’t remember the last time Dennis banged a girl. 

A documentary was playing, but Charlie wasn’t focusing on that as much as he wanted to. His thigh was touching Mac’s. Not in a sexy way. They were just sitting close and the outsides of their thighs touched, not even skin to skin, they were both in jeans. But holy shit Charlie felt his skin tingle beneath his jeans. It wasn’t a horny thing, not a dick horny thing at least, maybe a heart horny thing.

The voice on the TV said something about birds dancing to attract mates. Charlie laughed a little, even though they hadn’t said anything explicitly funny.

“What is it, man?” Mac asked, looking over at him.

“I was thinking if that were human mating rituals, like I totally seduced you before.”

“When did you seduce me?”

“Remember when I told that radio station that I was proud of Paddy’s and we danced?”

“Yeah, you didn’t sed-”

“Yeah, but I kicked Dennis’ ass in that dance competition, so like, I didn’t seduce you, but if we were birds I totally woulda seduced you.”

“But you weren’t trying to seduce me.”

“Yeah, but still, it’s kinda cool that if we were birds, you’d choose me over Dennis.”   
  


“Well, it’s not like Dennis would try to seduce me, and it’s not like I want to date you.”

“Why not?” Charlie didn’t mean for it to come out angry, but it did. 

“Ew, gross, Charlie!”

“C’mon, Mac, you’re always saying you could do better than me! Why do you want to do better than me so bad?”

“Why do you even care?” Mac said, they had both been raising their voices. Like they were fighting, like they cared. 

“Because I’d date you, Mac!”

“Yeah, if you were gay!” 

“I am for you!” 

And then neither of them spoke. The narrator droned in the background, but that sound was so quiet now. It was obvious how loud they’d gotten. 

“Wait, what?” Mac said. He laughed. It wasn’t a mean laugh, but Charlie’s stomach flipped in the not so good way this time.

“I mean, I didn’t mean, I’m not like  _ gay  _ for you, I just.” Charlie groaned and stood up. He couldn’t stand touching Mac’s stupid thigh with his thigh through jeans anymore! God, he was so fucking stupid, everybody was right. He started pacing as he ranted, “I mean… gay, straight, whatever, who cares, I don’t care, I just, you’re my best friend and I love you a lot and I know that’s weird to say or whatever, but it’s true, and like, I think I love you more than a best friend, and that’s probably weird to say too, but it’s also true. And I know you’re probably heartbroken over Dennis being in denial and I’m sure you’d much rather date a prettyboy like Dennis over me, but I’m just saying, I love you, and I think it’d be cool to date you.”

“Since when do you love me, Charlie?”

“Um…” Charlie stopped walking around the living room and looked at Mac, he put his hand on his hips as he thought, audibly clicking his tongue while he pinpointed the exact moment. “I think since we were twelve? Maybe I was thirteen? We were down at the train tracks ‘cause your dad just got arrested, and we were throwing some fucking rocks and I found this really cool rock and I wanted to throw it, but I thought you’d like it too, so I let you throw it instead, and you were really happy and I remember thinking like  _ Shit I’m so glad I made him happy, I think this is what being in love is _ . And so I think that’s it.”

“Holy shit,” Mac said. He didn’t laugh this time. He looked up at Charlie with  _ those  _ eyes. The eyes that Charlie couldn’t describe because there weren’t enough words in the world, even if he knew all of the words in the world there wouldn’t be enough. Not to describe how they looked, not to describe how they made Charlie feel. If he were to describe how those eyes made him feel, somebody would probably diagnose him with a medical disorder. “Charlie, how the fuck could you be in love with me for like thirty years and not tell me?”

“Because you hated gay people for a really long time, so I hated gay people, and then I stopped hating gay people, but I didn’t remember loving you, I mean, I didn’t forget, but it felt like a stupid idea. And then you were gay, but it just didn’t feel right. And now doesn’t feel right, but I was gonna explode, man.”

“Shit man, I’m sorry I keep saying I could do better than you. I mean, I obviously didn’t think it would be a shitty thing to say because I thought you’d never like me so why would you care, you know?”

“Well, I do care. I mean, you don’t have to like me, it’s fine, but-”

“I do, dude. I mean, obviously, I love you ‘cause your my best friend, but like, yeah I like when you hold me, you know? And I like that you’re the funniest fucking person I’ve ever met, and even though you fuck shit up you always do it with like a crazy amount of confidence. Also, like, you are a little dirty, but under the grime you’re kinda hot. Like whenever you have to wear a suit, you always look real fucking good.”

“Um, thanks?” Charlie laughed and ran his hand through his hair. “Um, shit, so if I love you, and you’re saying, like… are you saying… are we…. Can we be like boyfriends and shit?”

“Uh, can we just say we’re boyfriends, and then we’ll suddenly be boyfriends?” 

“I think so. I mean, we could kiss too.”

“Do you wanna kiss me? I thought you didn’t like kissing.”

Charlie laughed and plopped down on the couch next to Mac. He gave Mac a loud kiss on the cheek before saying, “Okay, now you’re my boyfriend.”

Mac smiled and turned to face Charlie. Charlie leaned in and kissed his lips. Less loud. It wasn’t a hungry, desperate kiss either, though. It was soft. It was barely a peck, like when they were kids, trying it out drunkenly at first. Charlie held his lips against Mac’s for a long time. Longer than a little kiss like that should last, but it felt so nice. 

He pulled away and winkled his nose happily, Mac laughed, and then Charlie did too. They were happy laughs, though. Not the kind that made Charlie want to recoil, but the kind that filled his stomach up with warmth. They both settled back against the couch and went back to watching the documentary, but Charlie put his arm around Mac’s shoulders. They fell asleep with Mac’s head on Charlie’s chest again. Charlie didn’t know how it happened, but something changed, and it was amazing. 

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on chacmar.tumblr.com and u'll probably get slightly less erratic posting than what i do on here... but not much less. (:


End file.
